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anet


Cocaine Socialist

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Well if I ever find out that Jarvis has voted Conservative, I'm finding another band. The mum thing is just about forgivable, however.

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Eamonn


The Only Way is Down

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Just found this great interview with Jarvis' mam. Looks like it's from 1998. She's almost as quotable as her son! No wonder he's so grounded...




'Jarvis was a wonderful mistake'

Christine Connolly raised Britain's coolest pop star on discipline, square meals and solid Tory values, she tells Quentin Letts


FOR some time now, teenaged girls and men in their thirties have tended to concur that Jarvis Cocker is the wittiest pop star in the country. As a gangling, bespectacled chronicler of working-class suburban life, he has become the very embodiment of cool.

If there is anyone who could salvage Tony Blair's dreams of "Cool Britannia" - and win his government the respect among young people that he seems to crave - it must be Jarvis. So the news this week that he and his band Pulp have released a song entitled Cocaine Socialism will have been met with sickly smiles and queasy stomachs in Downing Street.

lThe song was written after Jarvis was approached by "creepy" Labour Party officials (his description), who hoped to persuade him to support Mr Blair. Alas - its lyrics display the sort of contempt for New Labour that the "Red Wedge" bands of the Eighties used to reserve for Mrs Thatcher: "Well, you sing about the common people / So can you bring them to my party and get them to sniff this... and all I'm really saying is come and rock the vote for me / So now please come on and toe the party line..."

Jarvis's salvo, however, has gone down very well indeed in one particular quarter: his mother is delighted. That is not because she is some core-conviction Lefty, dismayed at Labour's drift away from socialism. Not a bit of it. Christine Connolly fully supports her son's latest political turn because she is a committed Tory - and anything that inconveniences Mr Blair is just fine by her.

Jarvis's mum came to public attention earlier this year when she ran for a council seat in Bassetlaw (and lost by one measly vote). "Rock rebel's mother standing for Tories!" cried the headlines, contrasting Jarvis's coolness with the desperate un-trendiness of being a member of the Conservative and Unionist Party.

Now in her mid-fifties, Christine Connolly is a tall, broad-shouldered Yorkshire housewife who expresses her opinions frankly, punctuating them with a hearty smoker's laugh. Her favourite word appears to be "pet" and she has an endearing habit of patting your arm as she thumps down her Tory philosophy.

Home is a 16th-century farmhouse near Worksop, with a pretty garden at the front. Jarvis may mock bourgeois values, but mum's place glories in its brass trinkets and comfortable, deep shagpile. The scent of furniture polish and summer blooms fill the air and, as we settle down to look through Christine's old photograph albums, the daily is busy cleaning in the next room.

Christine alights with glee on a photograph taken in 1963 of the infant Jarvis - then a bonny baby with a soft little rump. Christine herself was a beautiful, oval-faced 21-year-old art student, married to a musician called Mack Cocker, when she gave birth.

"Jarvis was a bit of a mistake," she says. "Oh, that sounds terrible. He was wonderful - but a wonderful mistake."

Among the family photographs, she finds another gem that shows Jarvis at six, in shorts and Aertex shirt, with legs like Twiglets. "He always has been skin and bones," she says.

Mack Cocker deserted his family when Jarvis was seven. "I just woke up one morning and Mack was not there," Christine recalls, and suddenly her face crumples and tears spring to her eyes, though she tries to conceal them. "Mack just left a note and walked out."

Young Jarvis, she says, was "quiet" about his father's disappearance. (Mack only recently resurfaced in Australia, offering a newspaper his thoughts on his son's development.) Afterwards, Jarvis saw more of his grandparents. With a sigh, his mother says: "They'd have been so proud of him now." And this brings on more tears, so she lights a cigarette and draws on it deeply.

While Jarvis was growing up, his home town of Sheffield was on its way to becoming one of the municipal citadels of the Left; among the rising stars was David Blunkett, now Secretary of State for Education. Christine says she never warmed to him: "They were just starting the trendy teaching methods in the schools. Luckily, Jarvis's headmaster had no time for that sort of nonsense."

She was already a Tory in the Sixties. "I read Marx and the Communist manifesto, but although I thought communism was a brilliant idea, I could see it didn't work. Human nature isn't like that, pet. If you have worked bloody hard all your life, you want to keep what you have got.

"I've got wealthy socialist friends. I say: 'Why don't you give your new washing machine to some poor family?' and they never know how to reply."

Her beliefs are founded on self-maintenance, traditional discipline and square meals. Jarvis was always a good eater, she muses; he "ate like a horse". To this day, when her second husband, Derek, wants only a small helping, he will say: "Now don't go giving me a Jarvis portion".

Young Jarvis was in the Scouts and did well at school. Christine hoped he might become a brain surgeon but he was too squeamish. So when he hit a reclusive spell in adolescence, she helped him buy an electric guitar and encouraged him to master it.

By his mid-teens, Jarvis and the nascent Pulp were practising at home, making his bedroom pulsate with noise. Christine, her libertarian instincts coming to the fore, let them get on with it. A chance of success came early when the disc jockey John Peel invited the band down to London to make a record.

"John Peel would phone me up and say: 'Don't worry, Mrs Cocker, I'll look after him - he'll be all right'." But the Peel episode was one of several false dawns for Jarvis, whose mocking whimsy was too off-beat for the Eighties. It was not until the Nineties that Pulp's records really started to sell.

In Sheffield, Christine worked for Bell fruit machines, collecting money from their one-armed bandits in the pubs around the city and seeing the rough side of life. Much to her amusement, the local crime ring took a liking to her and would escort her down the darker streets to ensure she did not fall among thieves.

At Sheffield's notorious Bull and Mouth pub one day, she found that one machine had been stolen and another was being upended by some vandals, who were subsequently given a good piece of her mind.

"I used to carry large amounts of money on me, but I never had trouble. And at the end of my working day, I would find groups of old men waiting to play dominoes with me. Bell Fruit kept offering me promotion but I said no. I just liked the job too much."

Friends urged Christine to seek her fortune in London but she said no to that, too. "I've never been fond of London. It feels dirty. The people have never got time."

It was last year's general election count, to which Christine went along to support her local Tory candidate, that inspired her to try to enter local politics. She found the Labour supporters that night an unlovely sight.

"They looked like something out of a Brueghel painting," she recalls. "I was astonished to discover that these people were not just Labour supporters, they were Labour councillors."

If that was the best they could muster, she thought, I'll have a bash at it myself. The Connollys and some like-minded friends decided to mobilise and start up a local Tory party branch. It now has 20 members. Christine has come to loathe the nannyism of the Blair Government, and its meddling in areas of life where she thinks common sense should prevail.

"Labour says that if you have young children, you mustn't have sharp knives in the house," she says, well into her stride. "Fine. So how are you going to bloody well cut onions?"

Her no-nonsense attitudes still extend to her son. When Jarvis comes home, he is expected to "pull his weight" with the washing-up. Sometimes, he brings back friends from the pop world. "I've met Damon Albarn," she says. "A nice little lad, he."

And then there are the girls, skinny fashion victims straight off the London scene who touch down in Yorkshire and are immediately given the benefit of some Worksop wisdom about eating plenty to keep up their strength, and not to go taking those drugs.

"Ooh, I have had fun with them," Christine says. "When they come to the pub with us, they have a job keeping up with me! I teach them a good bit of common sense. A lot of them are on drugs. Why can't they just get their kicks from a gin and tonic and a cigarette?"

What about Jarvis and drugs? I ask. What does the down to earth mother of the man whose best-known songs include Sorted for Es and Whizz say to dissuade him?

"As a mother, you never stop worrying, but he has always been level-headed. When he was little, I used to din it in to him that drugs were dangerous. A lad I was at college with killed himself with drugs - that sort of thing puts you off for life. As for cigarettes, Jarvis smokes OPs - other people's!"

Christine listens to his music with maternal interest, telling him exactly what she thinks. "He went through a dirgey period for a bit, and that were awful," she says, with a laugh. She "quite likes" the band's most recent album This is Hardcore, but her favourite song is Common People.

When she goes to Pulp concerts, she is more nervous than Jarvis. "I get palpitations. I know how shy he is; I am gobsmacked every time I see him perform," she says. "Jagger's mother must feel the same way."

Cocaine Socialism (Island records) by Pulp is the B-side to the single, A Little Soul.
Jarvis's former Scout group are trying to raise money for their new hut by raffling his donation of a triple platinum disc. Tickets (£1 each or £5 a book) are available from the 270th Sheffield Intake Scouts, PO Box 1353, Sheffield, S12 2YW. Please enclose an sae.



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weener


Quiet Revolutionary

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yes you are right he (hopefully) will have been quoted out of context - i think it is out in a few days



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anet


Cocaine Socialist

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Superb! I had thought that Little Girl with Blue Eyes was written about J's mum, but the woman in that interview comes across nothing like I'd imagined the character from that song to be.

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Mike


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The Guardian has already jumped on it. (The Tory quote, not the split-up.)


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andy


Master Of The Universe

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hehe, seems like Jarvis' mom was / is a bit of a dad too.

I think Jarvis isnt tied up to any political party, that's it, we shall wait and read the interview, but i really dont think it's gonna read he's a torie. His criticism on society have always been about humans and their weird values and behavior, whatever party they are supported by. He's in the middle somewhere, just like everyone one of that arent radical about everything.

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anet


Cocaine Socialist

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Mike wrote:

The Guardian has already jumped on it. (The Tory quote, not the split-up.)


Reading that sounds more like Jarvis is making an observation than expressing an opinion.

 



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andy


Master Of The Universe

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Totally.

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weener


Quiet Revolutionary

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thank god!

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calumlynn


Cocaine Socialist

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Jarvis' mother sounds absolutely nauseating.

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Sturdy


The Only Way is Down

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The gentleman who wrote that article is more often to be found writing for the Daily Mail. That probably says it all.

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andy


Master Of The Universe

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The article has been updated with Jarvis' statement denying he's a torie

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Deep Fried

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Article on Jarv's Mom:

It was last year's general election count, to which Christine went along to support her local Tory candidate, that inspired her to try to enter local politics. She found the Labour supporters that night an unlovely sight.

"They looked like something out of a Brueghel painting," she recalls. "I was astonished to discover that these people were not just Labour supporters, they were Labour councillors."

If that was the best they could muster, she thought, I'll have a bash at it myself. The Connollys and some like-minded friends decided to mobilise and start up a local Tory party branch. It now has 20 members.

Is anyone else reminded of Hot Fuzz?

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The Idiot


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ALL the best pop stars "flirt with fascism" at one time or other...




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Deep Fried

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The Idiot wrote:

ALL the best pop stars "flirt with fascism" at one time or other...



It's a side-effect of cocaine addiction, isn't it?



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The Idiot


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It's a side-effect of cocaine addiction, isn't it?


Well I'm thinking that it can't be love.





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Barcroft


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This is blatantly a case of the newspapers trying to make a story up out of nothing by quoting something out of context. In fact, they don't even do that, they just simply try to make out that Jarvis supports the Conservatives when he more or less says the exact opposite...what a lot of trash reporting!!

On the plus side it will certainly not harm promotion of the new album. A nice bit of publicity I suspect.

It's sad to hear about Jarvis' breakup by the way. At least the two are still on amicable terms. As has been said several times though, it's non of our business and hopefully the press keep their noses out!



-- Edited by Barcroft on Wednesday 29th of April 2009 03:51:30 AM

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weed


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I haven't read the full interview yet but my feeling is Jarvis has made a valid point that there is simply no alternative to Labour. No credible opposition. I haven't voted at the last 2 general elections as I don't feel either would be any better than the other.

Before that I did vote Lib Dem but I feel even they have lost their way

I think Labour would benifit from electing a new leader, if it takes 4 years of a Tory government to get that then so be it!

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Wickerman


Loss Adjuster

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Perhaps it is an idea to get away from that system you've got, the majoritysystem, and go towards a European style of politics with coalitions and stuff.

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syntheticgerbil


Sorted

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The split up makes me sad, but like others it's the inherent romanticism that makes me feel that way.

Then again, I would guess a relationship with a stylist would be very unstable. But then again, so would one with a musician. I have no clue.

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andy


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Most of the album is about the break up, really. Even though he says "dont read too much into things", Leftovers, Caucasian Blues, Never Said i Was deep, Hold Still...etc all sound like post break up songs.

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qingimiss


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Wedding Planner jobs are hair extensions in high demand or how to save money - even if it's your own wedding. Wedding jobs are in demand if you are you good with lace wigs people and enjoy planning and organizing. Do you prefer not to be stuck in an office working 9 - 5? If so there are wedding jobs available and dress up games becoming a wedding planner may be an option for bridesmaid dresses you to consider. wedding invitation wording Even if you've never thought about this as a career option before, you might consider these data before you discard the idea.


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Steve Devereux


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Zounds, the irony.

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